“Developer Joe Cassidy has donated a Bayview district housing site to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a gift that will allow the nonprofit to build a 170-unit affordable housing project targeting Bayview families.
The waterfront parcel, 900 Innes Ave., has been appraised at $17 million to $19 million depending on how many units are constructed. The donation may generate a large tax write-off for Cassidy, but he said it was motivated by the weak housing market and frustration with the city’s sluggish land use approval process. He had planned to build a market-rate development on the site, but three years into the application process was still years away from breaking ground. With affordable housing a priority for elected officials across the political spectrum, the THC will be better positioned to cut through the city bureaucracy, he added.”
“I don’t think a market-rate project out there would pencil for us at this point,” said Cassidy. “The affordable guys will be able to move it and the market rate guys would be tied up for another three years, easy, plus two years of construction. I can’t wait five years while the city gets its act together.”
∙ Developer donates site for big affordable plan [San Francisco Business Times]

Comments from “Plugged-In” Readers

This is the problem with the city!!! Build market-rate apts/homes/condos at a faster approval pace, and prices will come down due to economic supply vs. demand. Increase supply equals lower prices. The problem with the city is that the supply has not surpassed the demand due to the political sluggishness. Any property in Bayview will be cheaper due to the location. I do not care how beautiful the views are. There is no way that I am going to live in Bayview with the crime. Building affordable housing just encourages the formation of projects. I am from New England, and am very familiar with how this process works.

Um, hello people, this is right next to some of the most dangerous housing projects in the city – have you ever even been on Evans/Innes out this far? Have a look around and let me know what you’d be willing to pay for a new house/condo out there. The problem with this property is not the city red tape, it’s the location and the fact that there’s is nothing you can build in the current market that is going to sell for more than it cost you to build. Hence, zero profit to a developer and a land value tbat is closer to zero than it is to $100K per unit. They are throwing around that high land value number so he can get a big fat tax write off. Good on everyone involved – it’s a win win for the developer and affordable housing (though I question whether building more affordable housing right there is such a good idea). These types of locations only make sense when you make then affordable housing and throw a bunch of subsidized money at it. It’ll be very interesting to see how the Lennar/Hunters Point housing turns out just down the road, but with that at least you’ll pass through this roughest stretch and arrive in somewhat of a gated community.

Be that as it may, this still sets an ominous precedent whereby the activists place enough obstacles in the path of market-rate developments so that only subsidized projects can get built. This will only get worse if Daly’s initiative for a general fund set-aside for subsidized housing passes come November.